Apparatus for wrapping labels onto bottles as they are moved in single line through a wrap machine is generally described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 856,243 filed on 04/28/86. and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 856,564 filed on 04/28/86. Both of these applications are assigned to the assignee of the present application.
The present invention deals with the problem of assuring that the labels which have been wrapped completely around the bottles and have been adhered to themselves will have their overlapped ends completely glued together for the full height of the label so that a seam will be formed which will withstand the strain of the plastic label being circumferentially heat shrunk.
In order for the seam to be formed reliably at relative high speeds, on bottles that do not have sidewalls that are vertical throughout the label height, the present invention provides a bottle handling system where the primary roll-on pad and the transition to a secondary roll-on pad are carried out with the rotation of the bottle under positive control at all times.
Thus the bottle, when it arrives at the secondary roll-on pad, will be at a specific circumferential orientation such that contoured, side engaging pads on the secondary roll-on pads can be set to exert a compressive load on the overlap seam of the label throughout its full height and follow the bottle contour.
With the foregoing in view, it is an object of the present invention to provide a primary-secondary roll-on pad system for bottles with plastic labels with overlapped ends to be pressed in a vertical line corresponding to the vertical seam of the label, to insure that the leading and trailing ends of the wraparound labels will be firmly adhered to each other and capable of resisting the stress of being heat shrunk to the bottle shape. This is particularly true for round bottles whose silhouette is not vertical over the full height of the label such as a soft drink bottle with the label extending above the shoulder or below the heel are to the bearing surface of the bottle.
Other and further objects will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the annexed sheets of drawings.